California Grape Crop Shows Declining Numbers

NAPA VALLEY (CBS SF) – The California wine industry saw a 9 percent drop this year in its yield of grapes statewide.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture released numbers this week showing that 3.3 million tons of grapes were harvested in 2011. Pete Mondavi Jr., owner and proprietor of Napa Valley's Charles Krug Winery, said the cool season started wet, delaying the setting of grapes, and ended wet, which contributed to mold and mildew.

KCBS' Anna Duckwoth Reports:

"Last year was also a down year. What this means is we're going into a period of a shortage of inventory for wine," he said.

Mondavi said the shortage won't be evident immediately since grapes are being aged and much of what was harvested won't hit the market for a year or two.

But he said there are some positives since longer hang times and smaller crops tend to yield higher quality wine.

"We're tasting the wines right now and they are showing some good promise," said Mondavi. "They are showing better promise than what we anticipated just going into harvest with the weather."

This was the second straight year of unseasonably cold temperatures for California's wine crop.

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